That was a rather eventful footballing weekend, wasn't it? In England, Manchester United scrapped a point at league leaders Chelsea, while wins for Manchester City and Liverpool mean they are just a point and two (respectively) away from the top. Arsenal's good home run continued with a win that drew them level on points with West Ham United while Tottenham vs. Burnley was snowed under! Across the border in France, Lionel Messi did Lionel Messi things as PSG extended their lead on top to a whopping 12 points (after 15 matches!). In Germany, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund remain separated by a point. Over in Italy, another loss for AC Milan means Napoli are three clear at the top, while Inter are just a point behind their cross-town rivals. Juventus remain seventh after a loss to fourth-placed Atalanta. The Madrids, Real and Atletico, remain one-two atop LaLiga after posting wins, while Barcelona remained steady in seventh after beating Villarreal.
Plenty of action then, and By The Numbers has the best stats ready for you --
Premier League
-43
Look away Manchester United fans. Now. During the month of November, Manchester United (17) have attempted the fewest shots in the Premier League, whilst also facing more opposition attempts than any team (60).
6
Watford's Emmanuel Dennis is only the sixth player in PL history to reach both five goals and five assists in 12 or fewer games, after -- and this is rather illustrious company -- Eric Cantona (11), Jurgen Klinsmann (12), Arjen Robben (11), Andrey Arshavin (10) and Bruno Fernandes (9).
17
Liverpool have scored 2+ goals in 17 straight games, tying the English top flight record for most such games (Sunderland, also 17, from October 1926 to February 1927).
40
Trent Alexander-Arnold's assist for Virgil van Dijk was his 40th in the PL; only Wayne Rooney (22y 200d) and Cesc Fàbregas (21y 188d) reached 40 PL assists at a younger age (23y 51d). Only one of these three is a defender.
87%
13 of Jorginho's 15 PL goals have been penalties (87%), the highest ratio of any player with 10+ goals in the competition's history. He has also, in a statistical oddity, converted 87% of the penalties he's taken in the PL (13/15). Only two players have scored more penalties for Chelsea -- Frank Lampard (40) and Eden Hazard (17).
93
Vardy has now scored 93 PL goals since he turned 30, tying Ian Wright for most goals by a player in his 30s in the competition's history. He has also now tied Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink for 14th most goals in league history at 127.
97
Diogo Jota scored the fastest PL goal this season (97 seconds) in Liverpool's dismissal of Southampton on Saturday.
LaLiga
9
Vinicius Junior has scored nine goals in 14 LaLiga games this season, one more than in his previous 82 games for Real Madrid in the competition. Boy, has he found his form this season.
10
Real Madrid have won more points from losing positions than any other team in LaLiga this season (10 points, two more than Atletico Madrid).
18
Karim Benzema's 18 goal contributions (11 G, 7A) are the 2nd most by a player from Europe's top 5 leagues, trailing only Mohamed Salah's 19 (11G, 8A) this season.
25
Barcelona are on a 25-game unbeaten streak vs. Villarreal in LaLiga (19-0-6 W-L-D); They have not lost to them since March 2008.
33
Antoine Griezmann has now scored against 33 of the 34 teams he has faced in LaLiga (159 goals), only failing to score against his current club Atletico (12 matches played against them).
103 vs. 76
Karim Benzema has scored 103 goals in 165 games in all competitions since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. He had scored 76 goals in the most recent 165 games played prior to the departure of Ronaldo.
Bundesliga
50
Erling Haaland is back from injury and he's back to doing what he does best. In fact, his goal on Saturday took him to 50 Bundesliga goals in 50 career games. It is the fewest number of games required by a player to score 50 goals in a Top 5 European League over the last 20 seasons. The next closest? Cristiano Ronaldo (in 51 LaLiga games), Neymar (in 58 Ligue 1 games) and Luis Suarez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (in 59 LaLiga and Ligue 1 games respectively).
102
Bayern Munich has scored 102 league goals in 2021, the most any team has scored in a single calendar year in league history.
Messi Ronaldo watch
Lionel Messi starred in PSG's win at St. Etienne, Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench to little effect in Manchester United's draw at Stamford Bridge.
1
Ronaldo will not like this stat -- nor will he like that he got less than half an hour to rectify it. He has scored only 1 goal in 16 career games against Chelsea in all competitions, his lowest goals-per-game rate against any opponent (club or country) he's faced more than 5 times.
3
Messi got three assists vs. St. Etienne on Sunday -- it's the joint-most he has ever gotten in a match (he has done it 5 times now, 3x Barcelona, 1 x Argentina, 1 x PSG).
15
Ronaldo hasn't scored a PL goal off the bench since scoring twice against Wigan on Boxing Day 2006 -- nearly 15 years ago.
(Stats courtesy ESPN's Stats & Information Group)